Salcheto

The Free Bacchus Story

In 2010 Salcheto became, by its own account, the first winery in the world to certify the carbon footprint of a bottle of wine. The study brought Michele Manelli unwelcome news. The new off-grid cellar he was about to open, the big investment, turned out to be only about 15 per cent of the problem. Packaging was more than a third.

Montepulciano is a hill town in southern Tuscany, and its Vino Nobile is made from Sangiovese, known locally as Prugnolo Gentile, not from the Montepulciano grape of Abruzzo. It sits in the middle of the Sangiovese family: less austere than Brunello, more structured than most Chianti.

Salcheto was founded in 1984 as a mixed farm and turned to wine after Manelli arrived in 1997. The cellar makes its own power; in ten years its solar panels saved more than 1.1 million kilowatt-hours, and between 2010 and 2020 the winery says it cut its carbon emissions by about 40 per cent. The fix for packaging, a lighter bottle, cost sales at first: in some markets, Manelli said, it was a shut door.

The vineyards, more than 60 hectares, are farmed organically, with compost made on the farm and the biodynamic preparation 500 sprayed on the soil, though Salcheto holds no biodynamic certificate. The EU organic register lists Salcheto S.r.l. under ICEA for its grapes and wine; the company is registered as a società benefit, a legal form that writes a public benefit into its articles. A few wines are made with partner farms in its Cuore Nobile network, among them the Vernaccia di San Gimignano from Casa Lucii, and this check did not read their certificates. The Obvius wines are made from grapes alone, with no added sulphites.

Salco, the Vino Nobile from the estate’s most mature plots, is the flagship. The Rosso di Montepulciano costs about a third as much and is the easy way in.